You Promised
by AdmHawthorne
Summary: Henry gets hurt trying to save the day, and Regina reacts. Very quick drabble.


**Characters aren't mine. They belong to ABC, Disney, and other assorted entities of importance. I gain nothing from writing these stories but the fun of doing it. Please don't sue me.**

**Did a few drabbles last night from some prompts. Wrote them in a google doc. A few people watched me as I wrote the, so, if you see typos, blame them. THERE WAS TOO MUCH PRESSURE! ;-)**

**Prompt: One person tells the other, "You promised you wouldn't do this anymore."**

* * *

"You could have been killed," Regina said in an oddly cold voice as she stared down at Henry where he rested in the emergency room's bed. "What were you thinking?"

He watched her with wide, frightened eyes, waiting out the rant that was just now coming to an end. As she stared at him expectantly, he took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. "I don't know." He shrugged and then winced as a bolt of pain shot through his body.

She winced with him. "You don't know?" With a heavy sigh, she sat down beside him on the bed, careful not to shift him and cause even more pain. "How can you not know? Do you understand the danger you put yourself in?"

Henry looked away for a moment, squirming as much as he could without actually moving very much "I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to get hurt. I was just trying to do the right thing."

"That's always the reason, isn't it?" Though Regina's voice is soft, it still ran sharply in the quiet of the private ER room. "Haven't you learned by now that doing what's right doesn't mean always having to put yourself in danger like this?"

"I just… I was just trying to do what," her son stopped talking, seeming to swallow his words as his eyes began to shine with tears. "I'm sorry," he said again in a hoarse whisper.

"That's how we lost her," she replied in her own hoarse voice. "You know that. What would I do if I lost you, too?"

"I promise I won't do anything like this again." Slowly, he reached with a cut and bruised hand to place it over his mother's. "Ma made me promise to stay around for a long time." He gave a half hearted smile. "I can't do that if I keep putting myself in danger like this."

Regina took in a shaky breath, turning to look her now almost son over. Gone were his chubby cheeks and bright young eyes. Instead of a shaggy head of hair, he had a haircut closer to Charming's, and his eyes were still bright, but experience colored them now. He was only 17, but he felt much older, and Regina felt guilty for that. He should be worried about report cards and driver's license, not trying to step in and fill the gap left by Emma's departure.

"Henry," she said in a quiet voice, full of emotion, "she wouldn't want you risking your life like this."

"I know," he said with a small nod of his head. "That's how we lost her."

"Yes," she replied as she wiped away a stray tear. It was still too difficult to really talk about, even though Emma had been gone nearly 2 years. "After the last time you were hurt, you promised me, Henry." She looked at him with eyes that begged him to understand all the reasons why he needed to _not_ take over being savior of the town, why he needed to just be Henry Mills, her son. "You promised me you wouldn't do this anymore."

"Yeah." He sighed, pulling his hand back so he could resettle on the bed. "I know, Mom, and I mean it this time. No more fighting monsters, no more trying to save people all the time…" He trailed off, wincing yet again. It was clear the pain medication was wearing off. Before his mother could get up to go fetch a nurse, he caught her by the hand to keep her there. "I want to move."

"Move?" She could feel her eyebrows raise in shock and surprise.

"I want to move, maybe back to New York. I want to go someplace where we don't have to ever worry about this stuff anymore. We don't owe anyone here anything. I mean, isn't it bad enough that Ma got killed protecting them?" He cleared his throat, ignoring his tears. "When I get well enough, I think we should just go."

She stared down at him for a long moment, weighing her options, but she knew her answer as soon as he'd made the request. With a nod of her head and tightlipped smile, she leaned over gently to place a kiss on his forehead. "Then to New York we shall to, my little prince."

"Okay, great," he gave her his best mocking glare, "now can you go get Nurse Hill to come give me something because, like, I REALLY hurt, and it kinda sucks."

Regina chuckled, shaking her head as she straightened up. "You're just like your mother, you know that?"

He smirked. "Only until I get my meds." He winked for good measure.

"I'll be back. Don't go anywhere." With a final brush of her fingers across his forehead, she left, and he watched her go, making a personal pledge to never hurt her or leave her again. They were a family, and he was going to see to it that they stayed one, even if one of them was absent.


End file.
